The problem with kids today (I sound like an old person who walked 2 miles every day to school with cardboard in my shoes) is that they aren’t creative. They don’t know how to play. Years ago, little boys would play cowboys and indians. Cops and robbers. One is the good guy, one is the bad guy. You would run around and chase each other, scream like a banshee, and it was fun. Girls would play house. They would put on a babushka and sweep the floor. Talk about what they were going to fix for supper and what a loser their husbands were. (Well, maybe some talked about that.) They would have tea parties. Even play with Barbie dolls, or in my case, trolls. You used your imagination to create a time and place and characters. It was fun. Especially playing Doctor. Or so I have heard.
Video games have taken away creative play. The kids sit like zombies, working the controls, excited if they blew up the right thing. There are different levels and the higher you go, the more your brain becomes mush. I know they say that if improves eye-hand coordination. Well, so does double jump roping. Get out there, chubby brain-mushed kid and jump around. I think that if you took two 9 year old video game addicts outside and handed them a white cowboy hat and a black cowboy hat and told them to play, they would look at you like you had 3 eyes. And then go into withdrawl from not being able to finish their level of the game they were playing.
My mom would lose her mind if we stayed in the house all day. Even if we were mute. It didn’t matter. We were there. She would hate video games. We had Pong. So, we entertained ourselves. For one, we went through a period where we made prank telephone calls. Can’t do that anymore because of caller ID. We made so many prank calls. I remember one in particular where I called some random number and as Random guy would say I had the wrong number ,I would cry ,because it was my last dime and my daddy forgot to come get me and it is very scary and then I would say in a whisper, “Oh, no…someone is coming…please help me and call my daddy. My number is 723-…” and then I would muffle the rest of the number and hang up..like some boogie man got the kid……..I’m just rotten to the core. One day my mom came downstairs, furious. This was going to be another Joan Crawford moment for sure. She couldn’t even look at us and just said, “Ramaine, go home.” and then proceeded to clean the phone with a wet cloth. Clean the phone?? “You will never make prank phone calls again. Do you understand me? The operator just called me and told me that you were making prank phone calls. She may call the police. Do you want to go to jail, Vickie?”………..I am cleaning the phone because you have a dirty mouth……..I know you brush your teeth, Vickie. But, you know what I mean……Go to your room, Vickie………..The operator did so just call me……………Go to your room,Vickie…………It only rang one time and it rang upstairs, not down here………….I was right by the phone when it rang………..What do you mean I never stand by the phone?…………Get to your room, Vickie……..The operator said you were making prank calls to people……………..I don’t know to who, Vickie, why don’t you tell me?…………….What do you mean it was Cheryl. Your sister is not even here……..
I never made another prank call again. I really thought the telephone operator called. I found out later that my mom just happened to over hear our most recent prank and decided to scare me into stopping them. They were creative, though, I have to admit. But, what goes around comes around. My son made one that surpassed anything Ramaine and I ever did. I will have to save that one for later. t was brilliant. I was quietly proud of his creativity.
Speaking of my sister, we even made the bathtub our playground. When we were pretty young and still took a bath together, we would use the ugly sliding doors with the swans etched in the doors and slide them so she could stick her head out at the front and I could at the back. We would go through about 10 washcloths and play neighbors and called the whole nightly role-playing event, “Mabel and Ethel.” We were always water logged. My mom must have used that time to smoke another pack of cigarettes. She never checked on us. We would use so much water in the bathtub and that bubble bath soap that came in a Sylvester or Tweety Pie bottle.
We also made a cabin in the woods across the street where we lived. Those days were saved for summer. Well, I guess that just makes sense…duh.. It really wasn’t a built cabin, more like cleared out areas between little trees that we imagined was a cabin. We were very creative. Kids younger than us wanted to hang out in our cabin. So, they were more than happy to do a lot of the weeding…of what was most likely poison ivy. And soon we even had a bigger cabin.. So, we fed them little pears with sprinkles of dirt on them, like pepper to the little neighbor children. Whatever was edible, the little kids ate, because we were nice enough to invite them into our cabin and fix them supper. I am so going to hell.
We also had a band. I think I was about 12 or 13 when we did this. It was called Carnival Kazoo. (I have no idea why I remember this.) Our first song was titled, “Catastrophe in A Minor.” I had a little organ on four legs. Someone played that. I played the Tupperware. My brother David had a guitar. Ramaine and her brother Bucky were in the band also. I think we only did this for one day. But, we had fun and it was creative. Meanwhile, the nutcase boy, Eddy, who lived a couple doors down was being creative also, throwing bricks at little kids. But, hey, he was outside, getting some fresh air. He was more of a danger than the German Shepard police dog, Max, that bit kids left and right when it got lose. Max was the meanest dog alive.
When it rained, we would usually go downstairs in the rec room and play ping-pong or perform our most creative role-playing game ever.
Yes, thats right. We played Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan.
Most of the time I was Helen. I would keep my eyes open and look up, and feel my way around the ping-pong table. Hunting for my teacher, Annie Sullivan, who was usually Ramaine. I can’t even believe I am talking about this. Anywho, Annie would spell letters in my hand, and she would take my hand and put it against hercheck and shake her head yes, like I understood. Just like in the movie. We were such weird-o’s. And we were small, so I just think we were just so far advanced for our ages. That, or we had some mental issues that needed dealt with.
I now have an inner ear disorder called Meniere’s Disease, which is marked by progressive hearing loss. Karma, Vickie, Karma.
I guess my point that I am trying to make is that if you are a parent, take a look and see where your kids are. If they are playing video games, shut it off, drag their little mushy brains off of the couch, and…..
show them how to make prank phone calls.
